Ready to Hope
by only here in your arms
Summary: "You know...since I deleted those pictures and didn't let you see them..." Clare decides to show Eli what he missed from the pictures and make sure he knows that he is the only person to get to see her without her clothes on. Showdown finale spoilers ONE SHOT.


**So obviously I loved the finale. Clare didn't go through with her plan, Eli's play was a success, and the two of them shared the most suggestive conversation ever. Eclare sex is on the horizon kids, don't you worry. **

**A bunch of us pretty much had aneurysms about the episode and promo and I was easily persuaded into writing this one shot. I don't usually write smut and this scenario provided the perfect opportunity for me to experiment with it.**

**So don't be harsh, yeah? I'm awkward and I know it.**

**Title from: Shake it Out by Florence and the Machine (of course!)**

**This is a ONE-SHOT. Thanks for reading and please review! And tell me your favorite part in all of Showdown.**

* * *

Eli couldn't imagine his night getting better. His play was a hit. After months of preparation, having to teach Dave how to act opposite Tristan, dealing with Becky's ignorance when the process began, casting, figuring out the music, just yesterday when Mr. Baker, Mike Dallas, and a large amount of Degrassi parents didn't like the message and ending of the play, and even right before the curtain rose and one of his leads wasn't there, the play still turned out amazing. He watched his cast and crew put on a play better than his imagination.

There were times during the play, during some of the dialogue scenes, that Eli thought about Clare. He tried to find her in the crowd a few times, to no avail. But once the play was done, Clare was there holding a bouquet of roses for him.

She admitted to having taken naked pictures of herself to frame Asher and Eli's eyes just about bugged out of his eye sockets. But when she said she didn't go through with it, he relaxed. But quickly he got curious, asking about the whereabouts of those pictures. Clare couldn't expect to bring up naked pictures and not have Eli want to see them.

So after goofy suggestive teasing and a kiss, Eli couldn't imagine his night getting better. His play was a success, his girl got at least some of her closure, and she was rightfully in his arms.

Eli brought Clare along to say thank you to his cast and crew, thanking them for a successful opening. "A bunch of us are going to Little Miss Steaks," Dave told him after a long congratulatory hug. "You guys wanna come?"

Eli looked over to Clare, asking with his eyes, and she nodded. "We'll be there," he replied to Dave. Once Dave walked away, Eli took Clare's hands into his.

"Are you sure you want to go? You've been through a lot tonight and I'm sure your mom's probably—"

"Eli, I want to be with you tonight, I at least owe you that for missing your opening night," Clare replied, placing a hand on Eli's cheek.

"I understand though Clare, we can hang out before the show tomorrow and I would understand too if you just wanted to go home."

Clare rolled her eyes and pressed a kiss to Eli's lips. "Let's have fun tonight. We haven't had the opportunity for weeks."

"I thought your birthday would make up for our lack of dates but…" Eli pressed his lips together and held up his right hand. "That didn't work out well."

Clare held Eli's hand, caressing it softly, before kissing the reddish skin of his knuckles. Eli's mouth slightly opened at the gesture and the sight of Clare with her eyes closed, kissing a part of him that wasn't on his face.

"Yeah, you might want to stop now," he coughed awkwardly, pulling Clare's hand down to their sides and pulling her towards the exit doors. Eli managed to get them both to Little Miss Steaks in one piece but he could not stop thinking about how Clare sensually kissed his hand and the fact that she had taken pictures of herself without her clothes on. The hand kiss was unintentional and he knew he was being a usual teenage guy for connecting Clare's innocent hand kisses to something else but she talked about _naked pictures_. What's a guy to do? _Not _think about Clare naked?

The cast was all there at Little Miss Steaks celebrating their opening night. Clare and Eli managed to get their own table and ordered some late night snacks to share. They watched Tristan and Tori singing karaoke on the stage, laughing and cheering the niners on.

The entire time, Eli held Clare close to him. They had been so disconnected the past couple of weeks, ever since the Interpreter ran Clare's article. Remembering how he had given Clare a framed version of the article that she was taken advantaged for, Eli tightened his hold on Clare, bringing his mouth to her ear.

"I'm sorry, for all of the things I said about Asher, teasing you about him, giving you the frame," he said softly so no one could hear.

Clare turned her head to him and smiled. "It's okay, you didn't know. But I have to admit it to you, that frame is not up on my wall."

Eli cracked a smile. "Understood. Someday we'll frame your first solo published article." Clare leaned her head to his shoulder and he continued. "I'm so proud of you. I love you so much."

"I love you too," Clare said before leaning in for a kiss. After a few seconds, Eli was about to pull away since they were in a public place but Clare held him in place with her hands on his neck. So he continued to kiss her passionately and slowly, making sure that Clare knew how much he really loved her.

"Lovebirds! Get a room!"

Clare abruptly pulled away, making Eli's head fall slightly. When he opened his eyes, Clare looked all flustered and red and properly kissed. She was smiling, though obviously embarrassed at their PDA. He hated whoever it was that interrupted their kiss and realizing it was Adam since he was sitting at the bar gawking at them, he playfully glared at him.

It would be another thirty minutes before Clare asked Eli if they could go. So Eli said goodbye to his cast and crew, telling them to get a good night's rest for tomorrow's show, and he led Clare to Bullfrog's car which he borrowed from time to time. When Eli was about to make the turn to the direction to Clare's house, Clare piped up and asked, "Um, can I stay with you tonight?"

"You sure? What about your mom?" Eli asked, changing the turn signal.

"I told my mom that I'm talking to the police tomorrow morning with Jennifer and that I was heading to catch whatever I could of the play. And she told me that if I wanted to spend the night with you that I could. You really got on her good side," Clare confessed happily. "And I know I wasn't grateful earlier today but…I am. I really am."

Eli pursed his lips to the side and continued to drive all the way back to his house. With all of the lights being off, Eli and Clare quietly made their way upstairs to Eli's room, managing not to wake up either Cece or Bullfrog.

"I am so tired," Eli stretched out his back and groaned. "Gotta do this 7 more times."

"But I'll be there for all of them," Clare promised. She took off her shoes and laid down on Eli's bed. "Can I get exclusive backstage access or does the director's girlfriend need a ticket like everyone else?"

"Oh I don't know," Eli teased. He hung up his suit jacket and started unbuttoning his shirt. Thankfully he had another shirt underneath. "The show's sold out so I'll see if I can scrounge up a ticket for you."

"What does a girl have to do for Romeo and Jules tickets?" Clare exclaimed, raising her arms.

Eli had an answer to that question but he decided it would be best if he kept his suggestive comments to himself. Clare just went through sexual harassment and being called a liar for it. She probably wasn't ready to do what Eli was thinking about since Clare kissed his hand and Eli didn't want to upset her more by jokingly bringing it up.

Exhausted, Eli plopped down on the bed beside Clare, resting his hands over his stomach. "What a day," he sighed. "What a week."

"What a month," Clare retorted. She snuggled into Eli's side and held his hand. "You know, almost a year ago, you were putting on Love Roulette and I was writing about it."

"Ugh," Eli made a face. "Let's not bring that up. Even Imogen said déjà vu. I'd much rather think about right now. Right now with you."

"I'm okay with that," Clare smiled.

For a little while, neither of them said a word. Eli had his eyes closed but he wasn't asleep. He thought that Clare had fallen asleep because she hadn't moved at all. Looking down at what he could see of her face, his eyes glanced over to Clare's chest. She was mostly covered up by the orange collared shirt she was wearing but it's not like he couldn't admire the chest his girlfriend had. He started imagining what was underneath of it when Clare's hand moved up his chest slowly and she laid down on her side to face him.

"What are you thinking about?" Clare asked him, playing with the neck of his shirt.

"You taking naked pictures," Eli admitted bluntly. "I'm sorry, I'm a guy. And I know, it's inappropriate for me to bring that up since you just…you know, went through what you did, but damn Clare, you can't just tell me you took naked pictures and not be sad that I didn't get to see them before they got deleted."

He let his head fall back to his pillow and closed his eyes again, trying to will away the image of Clare from his mind, since he didn't really want to have to go to the bathroom to take care of his problem and have to leave Clare alone.

And the fact that Clare had gone to straddle him did not help at all.

"Clare, what—"

Eli was cut off with Clare's kiss and her tongue slipping into his mouth before he could even take the chance to breathe. She took the lead, escalating their kiss to a rapid makeout, making Eli's heart race to a new fast pace. Clare's hands felt like they were burning into the skin of his neck and when she tugged on the ends of his hair he just about lost it. He couldn't suppress his moan and did so against Clare's lips and was rewarded with another hair pull.

"Edwards, you're driving me crazy," he said breathily. Eli managed to pull away to put his forehead against Clare's. "Are you sure this is okay?" he asked, with each word causing his lips to brush against his girlfriend's. His beautiful, sexy, girlfriend who was unconsciously rubbing up against his arousal.

"Of course," Clare replied. She leaned her lips in as close as possible without actually kissing him and asked, "Is this okay with you?"

Eli's eyes rolled to the back and he shuddered slightly. He placed his hands on her shoulders, rubbing his thumb on her collarbone back and forth. He leaned up to kiss her again but she nudged him back. Clare sat up in his lap and Eli's eyes fluttered a bit. If she didn't stop then there would be a problem.

"You know...since I deleted those pictures and didn't let you see them," she said slowly. Eli watched as Clare's hands went up to the first button of her shirt. When she unbuttoned it, he gulped.

"This is what I did first," Clare told him. Another button was down and Eli could see the curves of her breasts. "Took a few pictures of me like this."

"You did this in the school bathroom?" Eli stuttered on his words while he forced his eyes to stay on Clare's eyes. "Fuck."

"Then," she continued, not meeting Eli's eyes. She fully unbuttoned her shirt. "I took my shirt off."

Eli went to help Clare with the next step by putting his hands underneath the shirt on her shoulders. He slowly eased the long sleeve shirt down her arms and he carelessly threw it some direction. He allowed his hands to run up and down Clare's arms before placing both on her neck and kissing her tenderly. Eli could tell that Clare was nervous so he titled her chin so she would look at him. "And?"

"I…I took more pictures, tried to make myself look sexy," she sheepishly admitted.

"Try?" he scoffed. "Look at you Clare, you're already sexy. And perfect."

Eli felt Clare's hands on his cheeks and he realized that when she's comforted, she tended to do that. She'd grab a hold of his head softly and kiss him, letting her thumbs run back and forth. "And then," she started to reach around her back when Eli stopped her.

"Can I?" he asked so softly that he barely heard himself. Clare's hands dropped and Eli slowly followed the fabric of Clare's lacy black bra. Once he felt the clasp he went to slowly undo it, kissing her to distract her. Though his mind was very preoccupied, Eli managed to unclasp the bra and brought it down her arms, not once stopping their kiss.

Eli kept his hands respectful, one on her jaw and the other around her waist still clothed by her high skirt. But Clare's were not. They were under his shirt, urging for him to take it off. Since it was only fair, he pulled away to let Clare take it off of him. With both of them both shirtless, Eli allowed his eyes to look down to Clare's chest. He couldn't help himself. He started kissing her skin, right under her collarbone, moving down slowly.

"Clare," he sighed into her skin. "I love you."

Eli looked up to see Clare's reaction but her head was thrown back, mouth open. He nearly came at the sight of an extremely pleasured Clare and he had to still Clare's slightly moving hips to form coherent words.

"Can-Can I touch you?" he stuttered embarrassingly against her neck. He saw Clare just barely nod her head so he made her look at him. She had a glazed over look in her eyes and Eli just couldn't think of anything hotter than this. "Are you sure? If it makes you uncomfortable then—"

"Just touch me," Clare said breathily, moving her hips again. Since she was wearing a skirt she was rubbing her underwear on top of Eli's dress pants, right against his arousal. "Before I explode just touch me."

Eli finally trailed his hands up her torso and covered Clare's breasts, instantly rewarded with a long moan from Clare's mouth. Eli could feel her nipples harden against his palm and he squeezed her gently over and over.

"Eli…oh my god…" Clare continuously moaned. Not being able to help himself, Eli kissed the soft skin, letting his tongue run over her breasts, sucking and kissing. Eli wrapped his lips around her nipple and Clare moaned so loud he thought it would wake his parents.

But he didn't care. He wouldn't stop Clare from letting out the sexiest sounds he'd ever heard and he sure as hell wouldn't stop touching her.

Eli switched breasts, sucking on one and squeezing the other. Clare was holding his head to her chest, her fingers practically ripping his hair out. He moaned against Clare's breast at the pain, sending jolts through Clare's body. "_God_," she managed to say. "Now you're driving me crazy."

He flipped them over, trapping Clare under him, and kissed her fervently, his hands running all over her. He started grinding against Clare as he wrapped her legs around his waist. Eli knew that Clare would let go soon if he kept touching her like this but he wanted to do something else to help Clare reach her orgasm.

His hand moved up her thigh and he looked down at her, his eyes asking if it was okay. "Please," Clare moaned, giving him a chaste kiss before letting her dead fall to the pillow with a sigh.

So Eli traveled his hand underneath her skirt and he pressed his fingers against her. He had to keep kissing her to drown out her moans, but all she was mainly moaning than kissing, the sounds being drowned out in Eli's mouth. He slowly moved her underwear aside and slipped in a finger, both of them groaning in the process.

Eli went back to kissing her, their mouths clashing at a fierce speed, and Eli started to move his hand aggressively, bringing Clare to the edge. Leaning down to suck Clare's breast and use his free hand to squeeze the other, Eli watched as Clare's back arched, reaching her high. He continued to move his hand to let her ride out her orgasm and once she settled back in the bed, Eli tilted Clare's head over to him to kiss her softly.

Clare's chest was heaving and she was completely spent. Eli loved the sight of it. Clare all disheveled and shirtless on his bed. Earlier he didn't imagine his night getting better and now he was regretting those words. Now his night was perfect.

Eli got off the bed to grab some clothes. Clare had her eyes closed, still taking in the last few minutes, so he took the opportunity to change into more comfortable clothes. He handed Clare a shirt once she finally opened her eyes and she put it on and took her skirt off. Neglecting the pair of shorts Eli was going to hand to her, she just pulled Eli back into bed and cuddled into him.

"Thank you," Clare whispered to him. "For getting me to do what I avoided, for not giving up on me when I got all crazy. I love you."

Eli couldn't help but smile, bringing Clare closer to kiss her before pulling his covers over them. "I love you too."


End file.
